Random Links - May 30, 2012
- Walk this Way: The Economic Promise of Walkable Places in Metropolitan Washington, D.C.
- "Residents of more walkable places have lower transportation costs and higher transit
access, but also higher housing costs. Residents of more walkable neighborhoods in metropolitan Washington generally spend around 12 percent of their income on transportation and 30 percent on housing. In comparison, residents of places with fewer environmental features that encourage walkability spend around 15 percent on transportation and 18 percent on housing. " Of course, most of the not-so-walkable areas are in the suburbs away from town - I'm guessing a fair number of people would consider avoiding an hour or two per day of commuting to be worth something. - Greeks and Germans at Polar Opposites: European Unity on the Rocks
- Some interesting information. On stereotypes: "the British, French and Germans judge the Greeks, Italians and Spanish to be the laziest people in Europe and among the most corrupt. However, Italians and Spaniards largely share this negative image of themselves and their southern counterparts." Interestingly, despite the notion of Germany being strongly opposed to bailouts, there seems to be a 50/50 split in views in that country with others like Britain and France fairly strongly in opposition. Nationals of every country except Greek listed Germany as hardest workest - the Greeks chose themselves for that label.
- 'Fair and square' pricing? That'll never work, JC Penney. We like being shafted
- On the failure of JC Penney's attempt to adopt simple, consistent pricing (no sales, an end to prices ending in .99 or .97 or whatever, etc.)
- Lack of Women Hurting IT Industry
- The byline: "Female integrators are often ineligible for government contracts because federal law requires at least two women-owned businesses to submit bids." By "ineligible for government contracts", they of course don't actually mean ineligible for government contracts but rather forced to compete on a somewhat more equal basis with other companies, regardless of the genitalia of those companies' owners. (Most "equal-opportunity" employers still seem to give preference to certain groups when bids are deemed more or less equal).